The United States supports Arab plans to create a unified military force to counter growing security threats in the Middle East, and the Pentagon will cooperate with it where U.S. and Arab interests coincide, Defence Secretary Ash Carter said on Monday.

Carter told reporters during a visit to Fort Drum in New York that U.S. military leaders who met with him in Kuwait several weeks ago thought that regional members of the coalition fighting Islamic State militants should be encouraged to do more if they were able.

“So I think if they are willing to do more, in this case with respect to Yemen, then that is a good thing because ultimately it is their region. … The willingness of the parties there to step up and do more for stability in the Middle East is a good thing,” Carter said.

His remarks came a day after Arab leaders meeting at a summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, announced the formation of a unified military force to counter growing security threats from Yemen to Libya.

Previous efforts have failed to produce an effective force, and participation would be voluntary. At least two countries were said to have committed to participating in the force.

Asked if the U.S. military would cooperate with the new force, the U.S. defence secretary said it would, noting that many of the participants, like Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, are already bilateral security partners with the United States.

“These are partners and security allies of ours, and when they act in a way that we regard as in our interests as well as theirs we will continue to partner with them as we have been in other matters,” Carter said.

MEMBER

That's a step in the right direction at it would not have come at a better time. The ISIS group is on the rampage killing innocent women,men and children with no sense of mercy so a unified military force would go a long way in providing counter measures and save lives in the process.

MEMBER

It's sad that something so obvious as this needs to be said. But it certainly does. Middle Eastern countries clearly aren't doing enough to stop the extremists in their midst. Same goes for the moderate Muslims. This kind of cooperation has to continue if there's any hope to cut down on the amount of violence and terrorist activity going on in that part of the world.

MEMBER

It's a good idea and possibly the only realistic way forward in the fight against terrorism and extremism. Carter is completely justified in pointing out that these countries need to step up and do more to protect their own areas. If everyone can join together, they could potentially create a force which is far stronger then ISIS.

MEMBER

The middle east is certainty a volatile region and I think its only countries that are in that part of the world can sort it out. Or at least try to.

All too often countries like the US and the UK have taken it upon the!selves to intervene with mixed results as we all know. The time as come, and should have come earlier to be honest, for the middle east to try and sort its own problems out. There's enough countries in that area to be able to sit down and form some sort of coalition.

MEMBER

The middle east is certainty a volatile region and I think its only countries that are in that part of the world can sort it out. Or at least try to.

All too often countries like the US and the UK have taken it upon the!selves to intervene with mixed results as we all know. The time as come, and should have come earlier to be honest, for the middle east to try and sort its own problems out. There's enough countries in that area to be able to sit down and form some sort of coalition.

Absolutely. So many people have expected us to come in and clean up their messes. Sometimes it's necessary and advantageous for everyone involved if we do, but sometimes these countries need to stand on their own 2 feet and fight their own battles. What happens when we get a president who wants to stay out of other people's kitchen? If they are going to have groups like these terrorists, they need to be prepared to smack them down.

MEMBER

Does anybody else feel like this is just common diplomatic rhetoric. It sounds like a cliche, and frankly is so commonsensical that it doesn't need to be said. With that said, the statement is true. For a stronger, more stable middle East, the countries over there must work together multilaterally.

MEMBER

Unfortunately though, it's not like the US, UK, Canada and Australia or whoever else working together. Some of these countries in the middle east have grudges against each other that go back decades, centuries even. Getting them all around a table to even talk would be one hell of an achievement, getting them to agree and then work together against one common enemy would be near impossible I think.

What one middle eastern country as the mutual respect of all the others to even try something like this?

MEMBER

I'm sure a lot of the countries in the middle east are doing are doing a lot but aswell as air strikes and ground troops, or instead of, wouldn't ISIS be more prepared to negotiate with these countries, certainly a lot more than they would with any western country anyway?

I'm not saying IS are going to be talked out of doing what they're doing, but I think they'll be more prepared to enter into talks with other middle eastern countries and at least open up a line of communication.

At the moment it seems to be mass slaughter on their part, followed by air strikes on ours. Both of which are getting nowhere.

THINK TANK

My European and American dear peoples in this thread, I'm afraid you have it all the wrong. Yes we do have security problems, particularly relating to extremism. Our intelligence services know how to deal with internal threats. However, insurgencies that developed out of war(as is with Iraq) are something of different nature. What complicates the situation in Iraq is that the government is pro-Iran and the population is majorly Shia. This topic is really deep, but Sunnis don't trust Shia. Shia see Sunnis as illegitimate aggressors against Prophets family. This is because Shia's are influenced by ancient Persians. Iranians(modern persias) are very upset at the battle between the first Muslims and Persians which ended the Persian empire. So they influenced this sect(Shii'te) to favor themselves. So essentially they use this sect as a tool to regain their past glory. This is why it's not something we can solve. It's a huge religious clash, almost like how European Catholics and seculars were devastating each other. But ours is different nature and we have very frustrated people who are willing to escalate the fight. It has gone beyond our control. And it's only getting to worse and drag the world in.

You see, the Irans goal is to invade Saudi Arabia or destabilize it. Not because they hate Saudi government but because they hate Arabs for what ancient Arabs did to their previous empire, they want revenge. And they are getting Arab Shia's to do this for them. So this is why Saudi attacked Yemen, it fears Iran will depot weapons there and then arm Shia's in Bahrain and then Shia militias in Iraq to all attack Saudi arabia. Now Iran is still trying to do that. And once more Sunni governments collapse then we have possibilities of major sectarian war and insurgency. More people will become more religious as well if major governments collapse and there will be a religious struggle in the region but it will affect israel as well. And we fear at that point in future West will intervene on behalf of israel and it could lead to religious war between one side and other.

What I want to get across is that its a issue of when and not if. The situation is getting uncontrollable and how it will play out is something nobody knows. And it's not an internal threat of extremism as you perceive.

.................

Now to finish off, please read this is important. In Arab world there are two camps, once that is secular and nationalist and afraid of Iran/reliant on West to fight Iran and Shia allies. And one that is not afraid of Shias and wants to fight them but also without West's guidence, these are called the 'Islamists'. These Islamists also feel that they need to regain the Muslim glorly they once had, they feel helpless and weak. Islamists how divisions too, some like Al Qaeda only believe in violence while others like Muslim Brotherhood prefer social work/democracy. Now that previous Saudi king died, King Salman realizes its not possible to combat Shia threat without help of Islamists. However, the alliane he's trying to secure(egypt+Turkey+Saudi Arabia) isn't working well because Egypt's leader overthrew Egyptian president Morsi and cracked down agaainst Muslim Brotherhood. So the Egyptian leader is anti-Islamist and the Iranian/Shia threat to Saudi Arabia doesn't concern him much. So the alliance isn't able to be fruitful but also the Islamist fanbase is suspicious and not able to trust anyone. So what is happening that Saudi is in the fight alone at this moment. And it also means Iran/Shia will contiue their path and ultimate goal of targeting Saudi Arabia. However, regardless of divisions in Arab world, if Saudi Arabia is attacked the Islamist base will get angry and will call for Jihad(struggle) which means we will have many volunteers who are religious fight and things will get very ugly. This is what will happen in next two-three years. The way we can prevent is two things:

1. Force Israel to give Palestiians state(Because Israel fears united Arab Sunnis who are strong and wants them to remain weak, but if they remain weak Iran will overcome them, giving Palestinians state would mean Arabs will never target Israel in future, but not giving Palestinians state means we will have problem)

2. Try to contain Iran/Shias(This is impossible because Shia's beliefs means Sunnis will always be enemy and because the West prefers Sunni's/Shias keep fighting to keep them distracted, however this is big miscalcualtion because trust me this war will explode sooner than you think and many governments are very worried of future.

My opinon is number 2 is imposible, number 1 also impossible. Therefore, sadly we are heading towards disatrous situation.

THINK TANK

Now to help you understand some politics. Let me give one example of something that happened recently. ISIS took over parts of Ramadi. You think its because of their strength? No it's not, it's a political move by Iraqi government and Iran. They let the city go on purpose,because recently the PMF(Shia militias supporte by Iran and hardliners) have been asked to withdraw from army operations against ISIS. Because they are sectarian and committed some war crimes. So now Iraqi government and iran are upset, they want to bring thePMF back to be dominant power in Iraq. Because it gives Iran more control and helps in future if Iran wants to attack Saudi arabia through iraq. So they withdrew from Ramari purposefully. And then they put car bombs in Baghdad that killed 27 today. On purpose. Why? Because they want Baghdad population to remain majority Shia, they don't want Sunnis from Mosul, Ramadi to flee to Bahgdad.

This is part of the sectarian political game being played. Which should help you understand complexity of this regional struggle. Every time you see political situation, it's not black and white. Remember you must analyze and draw all factors to help explain moves/decisions/facts that took place. Then ask yourself why such decisions were made by both sides.

MEMBER

2. Try to contain Iran/Shias(This is impossible because Shia's beliefs means Sunnis will always be enemy and because the West prefers Sunni's/Shias keep fighting to keep them distracted, however this is big miscalcualtion because trust me this war will explode sooner than you think and many governments are very worried of future.

THINK TANK

[QUOTE="2. Try to contain Iran/Shias(This is impossible because Shia's beliefs means Sunnis will always be enemy and because the West prefers Sunni's/Shias keep fighting to keep them distracted, however this is big miscalcualtion because trust me this war will explode sooner than you think and many governments are very worried of future.